Yumi FUJIWARA* and Erina SATO
Article first published online: January 31, 2015
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Abstract

With the advent of English as lingua francain the modern world, learning English as a tool of communication has become increasingly important. Accordingly, particular demand by university students for learning major-specific English or English for Special Purposes (ESP) in preparation for future professional skills and job-related functions has increased. Writing is one of the most important and useful language skills for students. However, Japanese EFL (English as a ForeignLanguage) learners often have little or inadequate experience in writing English, leading to their lowered self-confidence. The present paper aims to incorporate cooperative learning into a writing activity to promote student fluency and gain their confidence toward writing, and the effects/results are reported herein. A total of 57 participants who took a course on Science English as ESP answered pre- and post-task questionnaires related to a short video-clip description task with their peers. The results from the questionnaires suggest that cooperative learning had a positive influence on their attitude toward writing ability/activity.

Keywords: cooperative learning, writing activity,ESP, science English, self-confidence